Party Portrait
My Beautiful Wife 70mm, f/2.8, 1/125s, ISO 3200
Candids are often my favorites and this is no exception for more reasons than one. This shot was not posed at all unless you count “Please look over here for a second” as posing. My wife of 25+ years loathes being in front of the camera so I appreciate that she indulged me this time. There was nothing to bounce flash off of (outdoors, no roof or ceiling overhead, no wall nearby) so I used direct flash with a diffuser. I started the evening using a 3′ sync cord and holding the flash off-camera at arm’s length but tired of that fairly quickly. Lightroom was used for most of the processing and for noise reduction (ISO 3200 was used) but I also cloned out a few unattractive elements around the scene. I didn’t do any skin retouching or the like.
Say ‘Cheese’!
Cute 40mm, f/6.3, 1/80s, ISO 800
Just plain cute. I grabbed this while my wife and her sister were trying to get our youngest to smile for the iPhone. Sometimes these are the best pictures.
Since this is supposed to be a photography blog I can’t leave out the processing…I hit the “Auto” button and did a couple other minor tweaks in Lightroom. Manual mode, flash bounced off the wall behind the camera.
Candid-ish Christmas Group Portrait
Family Christmas 24mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO ?, flash bounced on wall behind the camera
I was revisiting some of my favorite photos recently – most of which don’t get shared because they aren’t worth much photographically speaking. I decided to share this one since it’s a good illustration of a semi-candid shot that one might not consider taking but ends up being a (personally) memorable shot. After opening all our presents on Christmas Eve morning we gathered all of us (minus the two out-of-town siblings and the baby who was sleeping), threw wrapping paper around, and snapped some photos. The setup was simple: camera on a tripod with on-camera flash bounced on the wall behind the camera. I have a remote but I just used the self-timer here. If I were trying to get the “ideal” shot I would have rearranged the room to allow a longer lens to be used and avoid the distortion from the wide-angle. I would have also lit up the background (simply by turning on lights in the other rooms) so it wasn’t so dark. I probably would’ve gotten out an umbrella or two and the remote triggers. However, I would have also annoyed everyone and made them impatient 
In the end we got a fun picture that we all like.
Off To Hawaii!
We’re off to Hawaii and I’m I’m taking the opportunity to post an iPhone snapshot of my wife and daughter in the airport waiting for our flight. I’m posting via inflight wifi and typing in the WordPress app with one hand on my iPhone (my wife’s coffee in the other). I honestly don’t know how it’s going to look with respect to photo size, etc. — I’ve never used the app to write any posts before.
Little Eden slept for hours while we waited for our (delayed) flight then woke up as we pulled away from the gate. Nancy fed her as we gained altitude so her ears could pop and she’s been a perfect angel ever since. What a sweetheart!
My friend Jim Nix at http://nomadicpursuits.com has been doing a lot of iphoneography lately and this is a perfect post to call that out and point you to his blog.
Hope this post turns out alright..
Happy Ever After
Last month some of my family attended the wedding of my niece Jessica in Seattle. We would love to take the whole family to events like that but it’s just not practical in our case. The weather was what one might expect in Seattle — highs around 50 and wet.
Cold, Wet, Raining
I was asked to do some photography during the times when the paid photographer wasn’t around — rehearsal, early wedding morning — and grab a few extra pics at the reception. I had just acquired a Canon 5D Mark ii the day before we traveled and I got to try out its capabilities over the weekend. It has amazing low-light performance and I took full advantage of that.
Here are some pics from the weekend (here’s a link to one I already posted of the rings resting in the flowers). Some are just OK from a technical standpoint but are personally meaningful or interesting to our family.
Girls Going Out
The shot below was meant to focus on the ring (and it does) but it isn’t the greatest shot. However, I still like the general feel of it — soft light, very shallow depth of field so I included it. It was taken in passing as I wasn’t focused on taking pictures at that point. I’d love to have that opportunity again though. I’d get the ring hand fully in the shot, shoot from slightly higher to entirely fill the background with Jessica’s to-do list on the poster board while keeping the nail polish bottle fully in the frame as in this shot.
Early Wedding Prep
Some pics from the rehearsal:
Can You Spot The Happy Bride-To-Be?
Parents and Grandparents of the Bride
Think Dad's Nervous Already?
Final Instructions
Coaching For The Big Kiss
The wedding coordinator was concerned that the main photog wouldn’t arrive at the house early enough to get pictures of the miscellany like the rings, flower, shoes, etc. so she asked me to get some shots. Here are a few I came away with besides the ring shot:
Wedding "Stuff"
Wedding Bouquets
Pre-wedding pictures in church:
Group Photos...Look At The Camera
Group Photo
After the ceremony the wedding coordinator again commandeered me for a photo assignment. The hired photog was covering the bride and groom’s trip through the receiving line from a vantage point near the church doors. I was asked to cover near the end of the line and I’m glad I did — look at how happy they are!
Just Married!!!
Off To The Reception
During the reception I didn’t capture all that many shots but here are a few. Light was challenging in the reception hall. Bouncing flash was not that great (note the black ceilings) and I didn’t have 3 remote flashes on stands like the hired photog did. I still like the shots even with some of the shadows. I take comfort in knowing that there wasn’t a whole lot to be done without setting up extra lighting myself. I just kept a diffuser on the flash and pointed the flash either up and slightly forward or up and slightly behind me. As the night was winding down, Jessica asked me to take a picture of her with the bridesmaids up near the dance floor. I like how the light ended up just fine with the exception of how everyone’s hair disappears into the background. I didn’t have a second light to overcome that. When we walked to the front and lined up everyone and their brother got cameras out and started firing. Getting all the girls to look at me rather than the other cameras was a bit like herding cats. None of the shots had everyone looking normal so I just picked the best of the bunch.
Bride and Bridesmaids Impromptu
Toast
My In-laws On The Dance Floor
A candid of my beautiful wife. When she finds out her picture is here I’ll probably be in trouble. She never reads my posts so please — none of you go telling her. She never needs to know
My Beautiful Wife
The main photog had already left the reception when Jessica and Jonathan were making their exit so once again the coordinator asked me to take shots. I had the 50mm lens on and there was no time to fetch my 24-70 or really test out the flash to adjust compensation. I’d prefer a little different framing but I was zoomed out (with my feet) as far back as I could get and I wanted to catch some of the flag waving too. I got off 4 frames as they walked out and they capture the moment just fine. There was very heavy tungsten lighting in this little hallway. My flash was gel’ed with a 1/4 CTO and I could get away with cooling the color temperature more but I decided not to eliminate it completely. It’s a dilemma I often struggle with — Whether to keep some of that uncorrected color in certain shots. It can be a nice effect sometimes.
Off To Married Life!
Paris!
Off to Paris this morning with my wife. We never really had a honeymoon so this is it — after 23+ years of marriage. We’re pretty excited about it.
This is NOT a photo trip. Of course I’m taking the camera but only a bare minimum of gear. None of my ‘L’ lenses are in my bag (going with the lighter options). The tripod is going along just in case but I’m not carrying it with me everywhere. I’ve got 32Gb worth of memory cards to last me a week — not taking a laptop to empty the cards. I typically shoot in RAW format but I’ll make the switch to jpeg if I get short on space. Bracketing for HDRs? I’ll do a few but with limited card space I can’t go crazy.
Sometimes I have a brief panic about the fact that I’m going to Paris (and spending a day in London) and will not be making the most of the photo opportunities. However, I quickly am reminded that my relationship with my wife is far-and-away the more important thing…and I’m fine with that.
See you in a week or two!
